Now you see, now you don't
by me.fergie
Summary: When Ryan is called to a crime scene, everything seems obvious at first. But some doubts remain, and when somebody asks Ryan for help, he finds out that everything is not as it seems. RyanOC-friendship. COMPLETE
1. Spider thief, spider thief

Okay, my lovely readers, this is my new story. To those of yo that have read "Watch out for the Wolfes", forget what you have read (I deleted the story anyways, because I didn't like it anymore, but I seriously love Nicole....). Nicole Ferguson, my beloved OC, is back, but her story is gonna be a little different this time, mainly that she isn't with Ryan here, and she isn't a criminalist, but your average detective. I'm sorry if that confuses you guys. I hope you still gonna like it. To those of you who haven't read my other story, this shouldn't be a problem...

**Disclaimer: I don't own CSI Miami, or any of its characters. I do own this case though, and of course Nicole Ferguson. The title of this fic is a line from the Song "Magic" by the Pussycat Dolls. I don't own the music or the lyrics. The title of this chapter is a variation on the Spider Man theme song  
**

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**Chapter One: Spider thief, Spider thief  
**

It was early morning when Ryan Wolfe woke up. He noticed he had still half an hour to go before he had to get up and get ready for work. So he just cuddled more into his blanket and stared at the ceiling. He thought about the events last month, when he had saved his uncle, his mother, Miami (and probably the world) from those terrorists. His shoulder was alright again. He only felt some pain when he woke up, probably because he had been lying the whole night on it. But it was bearable. And after all, it hadn't been a high price to pay. His family was starting to get back together. Only yesterday, Ron had told him that he and Ann, his girlfriend, were going over to Boston for Thanksgiving. They had asked Ryan to come along, but… it was still a bit to early for lovely family parties. Maybe next year. He sighed. Instead of thinking such things, he could as well get up and clean the bathroom before taking a shower. That would be better than just lying here and wasting time.

----

He arrived at work two hours later. He hadn't even made it to the lab when Horatio's call came in. DB in a house in South Beach. When Ryan got out of the car, he whistled. That was one fancy house! He walked in. It looked even bigger from the inside than from the outside. His whole family, including Ron and Ann and his sister with her husband and daughter, would fit in just nicely. He walked over to Natalia and Tara who were sitting next to the DB.

"If something ever happens to our lab, I know where we could find enough space for us to work…"

Natalia raised her head and looked around, "Yeah… Damn, this would be the right house to raise a family with… let's say 12 children…"

Tara, the new M.E., sighed, "Well, this family won't have 12 children in near future… without a mother…" She pointed at the body in front of her. It was a woman, obviously strangled to death. She was in her 30ies, long blond hair, blue eyes. Tara pointed at the marks on her neck, "I'm not really an expert on such things, but… if you ask me, the attacker was either very hesitant at first, or he was young and not very strong."

Ryan noticed what she meant, "Yeah, I can see. It seems that the attacker needed several attempts to finally get over with it. I can see…. 4 different lines. So he tried at least 4 times… Defensive wounds?"

Tara pointed at the hands of the victim, "Fingernails are broken, but no defensive wounds on her hands. You ask me, she was only trying to grab… whatever the attacker used to strangle her… and get it off her neck. I don't think she actually tried to get him off of her."

Natalia asked, "Any signs for…"

But Tara immediately shook her head, "No signs of sexual assault. Don't worry. At least she didn't have to suffer this."

Ryan looked around. The room didn't look like there had been a huge struggle. Everything was neat and clean, even he would have eaten from the floor. "Did Frank already talked to the husband? Was anything stolen?"

At that moment, Frank entered, "Indeed, there was. A ring."

Ryan raised his head, "Just one ring?"

Frank nodded, "White gold, one sapphire, two diamonds. It's the only thing missing. Now, we all know what this means…"

"Oh, yeah…" Ryan knew. "The Spider."

'The Spider'. No one knew who he was. It had started all about half a year ago. And since then, it had happened almost every week. 'The Spider' was a thief. No one knew anything about him. Ryan had been to several scenes. The Spider never had left anything behind. That's why the press thought he was some sort of a super hero. Already now the people of Miami made fun of the MDPD because they couldn't catch The Spider. But it was more difficult than they knew. Not only did The Spider never left any evidence behind, he also seemed to be able to climb any wall (that's why the press called him The Spider), because the only windows that showed signs of forced entry were always third or even forth floor windows. Another thing that made catching him so hard was the fact that he never stole much. He actually always stole just one thing, like, in the present case, one ring. Never money. And he never sold the things he stole. They just disappeared. And since they had no hint on who The Spider was, finding the stolen goods was nearly impossible…

"Yes, Ryan, The Spider." Frank said. "But that means, we finally have something. He couldn't have killed that woman without leaving trace behind. That's what you always say, isn't it?"

Natalia frowned, "I don't know… Frank, for all we know, The Spider has never, and I repeat, never attacked anyone at a crime scene. And some people have actually seen him. He never confronts people. He didn't even hurt the dogs at the houses he broke in. Sorry, but this just doesn't look like him. Attacking a woman."

"Nat, I've been in the business long time. People change. Maybe she caught him, and he just lost it."

"Look at her neck. That doesn't look like somebody's loosing it. It's too hesitant. If he had been loosing it, he probably wouldn't have strangled her. We know he uses a crowbar to get into the houses. He could have easily just knocked her out. Why strangle her then? Besides, she was strangled from behind. That doesn't look like she's actually seen him. No, sorry Frank, but I think you're way off here."

Frank looked at Natalia. He had to admit, what she said sounded convincing enough. And the CSIs were rarely mistaken. Still, he wanted this to be over. The Spider was making fun of the MDPD. And while Frank hoped they would get him soon, he wished to God that Natalia was right. If The Spider had actually killed that woman, the press would blame it on the police because they hadn't caught him earlier… and the police's reputation was shaky enough.

So he said, "Okay. You're sure right with that. Just do me a favour and prove it before the press finds out. I'm tired of dealing with them."

Now Natalia smiled, "We do our very best. Has the husband seen anything?"

"No. He woke up this morning, walked into the room and saw her lying on the floor. Then he noticed the ring was missing. Called 911. Here we are."

"Where is Nicole?" Natalia asked.

Nicole Ferguson, Detective with the MDPD, was the lead Detective on The Spider's case. Ryan had met her at every scene he had been too, and with every unsolved crime she had gone more and more ballistic. And Ryan was kind of afraid that now, since it looked as if The Spider had left his first DB behind, Ferguson would probably completely freak out.

Now Frank sighed and said, "I called her five minutes ago. She'll be here any second…" He hadn't even finished his sentence properly when they heard tyres screeching, accompanied by the loud sound of music. Frank shook his head, "I still don't know how she manages to scare suspects. If anyone ever heard her singing to Beyonce, every criminal in Miami would laugh his ass off…" The car came to a halt in the middle of the parking lot, and Nicole got out. Ryan could tell from her appearance that it had actually been her day off. Her long red hair was anything but combed, her clothes were not ironed, and she had a look of extreme annoyance on her face.

Now she walked over to Frank, "Are we positive it was him?"

Frank shook his head, "Not really. I was, until Natalia here said she doubts it."

Nicole bowed down over the body and asked, "Nat, what makes you so sure it wasn't him?"

Natalia repeated her theory, "You know him. You gotta admit it doesn't look like him."

Nicole frowned, "I agree. But then again… Do we know for sure he was here?"

"It looks like he was at least here to steal something. Only one ring gone. We gonna know more after we've searched the whole house. You'll be the first to know."

Nicole nodded, "Thanks, Natalia." She turned to Frank who was on the phone. "Did you talk to the husband?"

Frank flipped his cell close, "Did you refuse to show up at a bank robbery because you rather wanted to come here?"

"Yah. Did you talk to the husband?"

Frank shook his head, "Yes, I did, but you may want to do it again while I go and help Horatio getting the robbers. I see you around." He left.

Nicole grinned, "Yeah, I might wanna do that." She turned back to the body. "Let's just hope this wasn't The Spider. The press is so gonna tear us apart…." She shook her head and turned to Ryan, "You wanna come with me and grill the hubby a bit?"

Ryan nodded, "Yeah. Just got here anyways, so… After you."

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**So, as I said, I hope it doesn't confuse you too much that I made some changes to Nicole. Please read and review. And to those of you who liked old Nicole and her sassyness, don't worry. It'll be back :) Peace and Love**


	2. All eyes and ears

**Okay, dear readers, here's my next chapter. I hope you like it. As always, please read and review. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own CSI Miami, Ryan Wolfe or anyone else you know from the show. I do own however Nicole Ferguson.  
**

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**Chapter 2: All eyes and ears  
**

Ryan and Nicole sat down on the couch opposite the husband. He was still dressed in his bathing robe, his eyes red and puffy, a handkerchief in his hands. Ryan watched him. He looked like a grieving husband alright.

But Nicole wasn't too convinced with the show, "So, Mr…. Petr……. Pert… ov… Look, can I just call you Boris?"

"As you wish, Officer…"

"Thank you. So, Boris… You said you didn't hear anything?"

"That's correct."

"No noise, no nothing? Didn't your wife try to wake you when she got up to look if anything was wrong? Normally women do that…"

"My wife didn't… I wish she had… If she had, she would be still alive. I have a black belt…"

Nicole wiggled her nose. Then the young Brit looked at Ryan, giving him the green light to ask a few questions himself.

Ryan nodded and then asked, "Mr. Petrovsky, you said there's only one ring missing. How can you be so sure of that? I mean, only a few men know exactly how many pieces of jewellery their wives own…"

Petrovsky raised his head, "I don't know about you, Officer, but I loved my wife. Most of her jewellery was a present of mine. She was a humble woman; she didn't buy a lot of stuff for herself. She spent her money to help people. She helped Cuban refugees, she helped orphans, she was very prominent in animal protection. She was such a good woman. How can anyone do this to her…" He buried his hands in his face. And sobbed.

Nicole was still wiggling her nose. Something smelled fishy to her. "Boris, when did you noticed the ring was missing?"

"I… I called your people… when I found her. I was sitting next to her on the floor, trying to get her to breathe again. I… I held her hand… it was so cold… Then I noticed the ring was missing. She always wore it, always…"

"That's funny, you know. Because Detective Tripp told us that you first noticed the ring was missing, then you called 911." Ryan said.

Petrovsky now looked at him, "I don't know anymore. It's… when you see your dead wife, you don't care about such things. But I see you two are not married, so you don't understand this. I just know I held my wife's hand, and the ring was gone. Why do you treat me as a suspect? The detective told me… that it was this… person, this Spider thief. He killed my wife."

Ryan wanted to say something, but Nicole was faster, "Yeah, you're probably right. I'm really sorry I have to put you through this, Boris, but we have to ask such questions…"

Ryan frowned; he didn't know why Nicole was saying this. She had seemed quite convinced when Natalia had told her why she didn't believe it was The Spider who killed that woman. But he decided to ask her later about this. If she said such things, she surely had some sort of a plan. So he just added, "Yeah… I'm really sorry too, but we're gonna need a sample of your DNA, and your fingerprints…"

"And why is that?"

"So we can rule out any prints in this house that belong to you and your wife. It'll make it easier for us to find out if The Spider has left any prints or other traces behind…"

Petrovsky nodded, "Okay, I'll give you anything you need to find this murderer…"

---

When Nicole and Ryan left the area half an hour later, he asked her, "Why this change of plans? I thought I could read from your eyes that you didn't trust the guy."

"And you're damn right I don't trust him. But what can I prove? I have learned along the way to trust in you guys. If ever this was really The Spider, I want to get him as fast as possible. And if we upset this guy and he refuses to cooperate, we only waste time. Prove the Russki in there is a murderer, or prove he isn't, I don't give a damn. I just want to know if I'm chasing after a thief or a killer. And where to find him."

Ryan grinned, "Anything more? This guy really gets to you, doesn't he?"

"The Spider? Hell yeah. I seriously hate being played, and this is exactly what he does. He plays me. I cannot understand how you guys just cannot find anything. I have a whole lot of nothing to look at. You know the only thing we have is a handful of pictures of the stolen goods? How am I supposed to find the guy?"

"Don't you have anything? Who is the CSI on the case?"

Nicole rummaged through her handbag until she found what she was looking for. "Ah, there they are. My babies." She lit up a cigarette. "Some guy from your nightshift. And let me tell you, he doesn't have a clue of what he's doing. I wish The Spider would start breaking into houses at 7 AM, because then your shift would take over and I knew somebody was there who at least knows how to distinguish his ass from his elbow."

Ryan laughed, "Now, that's not nice and British, saying such things. I'm sure our nightshift isn't that bad…. But you seriously have absolutely nothing?"

"Nope. Nada. Not even my "dark world" source can tell me anything. This guy is a ghost."

"You have a "dark world" source? Sounds like you have regular meetings with vampires…"

Nicole grinned, "Yeah, I know, it makes me sound way cooler than I am. But lemme tell you, I have a source everywhere. Dark World, our world, press, local betting shop… Any information you need I can give it to you. Except for who and where The Spider is. And that is what drives me nuts."

"You have a source in our Russian Mob, perhaps?" They had arrived at Nicole's car, and Ryan opened the door for her.

"You still haven't got them all? I thought once old H. takes over they would all go to hell… No, sorry. But you know how hard it is to get one of those. I heard about your fight at Mark Gantry's house. With the guy who slit his own throat to avoid being arrested."

"Which of your sources told you that?"

Nicole sat down on the driver's seat, "Mhm, let's just say I might or might not have been at the lab visiting Maxie when you were talking to Mark. Come on, man, you're a CSI, you know how it works. Eyes and ears open all the time… Besides, you had quite a little shiner."

Ryan leaned against the car, "Yeah I know. Made me look real manly, didn't it?"

"Ah well, I always say, bruises are the same for guys as shoes are for girls. Sexy accessories. But that doesn't mean that you have to go out and get into fights just to please me…" She blinked. "I gotta go now; I guess they still wait for me to show up at that bank robbery. Or at least plant the car on some road where the robbers might drive. You call me, right?"

"Yeah. Why, you want me to ask you out on a date?" Ryan had noticed that the usual business talk was over long ago and that it was now time for some light hearted flirting.

She grinned, "As if I had time for dating as long as this SOB is out there laughing his ass off at me… And as soon as I'm going to have some time again, which will probably be after this guy's death, you're going to tell me you have no free time at all, and it goes all down the river. Been there before. No, what I meant was, you call me when you find something in there that could bring me one step closer to get The Spider."

"Yeah, yeah, I get that. So practically, to get you on a date despite your lack of time I'm gonna have to get a new shiner from some Russian mobster?"

"If it's a big one, I might think about it…." She grinned one last time at him, closed the car door and drove off.

Ryan walked to his own car, grinning a bit. It was a sad thing to say, but somehow, he could relate more to Nicole than to his team mates. They had met even before he had joined the crime lab, and had managed to form a solid friendship. When he had left patrol, they only met at crime scenes, but still there was some sort of the old bantering between them. And, what meant even more to him, Nicole had never judged him for anything he'd done. When he had lost his job and was hired at the gun range, he had run into her by accident. They had spent the whole hour that Nicole had been at the gun range talking about him being fired. While Nicole had told him he was an idiot to do such a thing, she had never made him any reproaches, and that was something he appreciated a lot, given the fact that no one at the lab trusted him anymore. He got into his car. He only hoped he could find something to help Nicole catch this guy so that he could at least pay her back a little of the support she had given him in this rough time.

----

But as usual, The Spider hadn't left anything behind. No fingerprints, no DNA or, as Nicole put it when Ryan found her in Maxine Valera's DNA lab, "So, I'm looking at a whole lot of nothing again… Just nice."

Maxine shook her head, "I ran the samples Natalia gave me like… three times? All I get is husband and wife. Sorry, Nic, but I cannot invent traces that are not there…"

Nicole bumped her head repeatedly against the glass door, "God damn it! I was so close this time! Do we at least know what she was strangled with? Anything? Maybe a rare fibre of a rare thingi or something? Where is your trace guy? I gotta see him! You have a new one, right? He doesn't know me yet, maybe if he knows me he'll find something!" She opened the door and ran to Trace Lab.

Ryan sighed, "I already pity poor Travers. I think I should go after her and apologize to him later…."

Ryan followed Nicole who opened the door to Trace lab with a loud bang. Michael Travers, the new Trace technician, raised his head, eyes wide open. "Can I help you?"

Nicole, who had already opened her mouth to start shouting at him for not finding something that was not there, stopped in motion- and started smiling. "You're British."

Travers grinned, "And you are British, too, Ms…."

"Ferguson. Nicole Ferguson."

"Michael Travers. Are you related to Sarah Ferguson? Or Sir Alex Ferguson? I mean, I love Alex Ferguson. I know nobody else loves him, but seriously, isn't that what he lives for? I'm a big fan of ManU. Do you like football?"

"Indeed, I do, I'm the biggest Chelsea Fan ever. Nothing better than good old English Football. I mean, we have three teams in Champions League Semi Finals now, isn't that just great?"

Ryan witnessed their conversation, frowning. He had imagined Nicole throwing lab equipment at Travers, and now they were already planning the Champions League Finals. He smiled a bit and left. Football discussions between Brits could sure take like over two hours. So he left Trace lab and headed back to Valera.

Maxine looked at him when he entered, "How many things has she thrown at him?"

"They're discussing football. I guess that's what happens when you have two Brits in one room. If you ask me, the moment she heard his accent she forgot where she was and why she was there. The last time I saw her smiling like this was when… hell I don't think she has ever smiled like this ever before…"

Valera had a dreamy glance in her eyes, "Yeah, it's all in the accent… Damn, this guy could tell me about fibres and consistence of mud anytime. Preferably at night…."

Ryan watched her and said slowly, "I think I better go home now… My shift's over anyways… And I might not wanna hear what you say next…."

Valera laughed, "Oh don't worry… I prefer Texan accents anyway…."

"And here's where I leave. See you tomorrow, Valera…"

"See you…."

----

When he arrived home, he still shook his head about the two girls. Travers was not really good-looking or anything, he was a rather typical dorky lab tech, but somehow, that accent made all the girls go completely nuts when he started talking. Maybe he had a hypnotic voice or something. That Nicole fancied him was understandable. She was such a proud Brit, and now she finally had found another one she could have all dignified conversations with. But Valera? Ryan shrugged; too many fumes in the lab, he guessed. He would just take a shower and forget about those "weird sisters", as Delko had once called Nicole and Valera. Ten minutes later, he got out of the shower again, only dressed in his boxers, rubbing his hair with a towel. He sat down on the couch and turned TV on. Erika Sykes was reporting on The Spider. This brought his thoughts back to the case. The husband was fishy, indeed. There was no trace of anybody else than him and the wife. Okay, that was typical for The Spider, so that really didn't frame the husband. He hoped that Dr Price had the results of the autopsy ready tomorrow morning. She had been busy all day with the casualties of the bank robbery earlier that morning, but she had promised she would have results ready as fast as she could. If they could at least find out what was used to strangle her! It would have been at least something! Ryan shook his head; he had to wait…

----

Three hours later he woke up again. It was already dark outside. He rubbed his head; damn, he had fallen asleep on the couch again. Not too good for his shoulder… He got up from the couch, the shoulder already a bit stiff and walked over to the bed room.

"Good evening, Mr Wolfe…."

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**Cliffhanger. ICK. Well, I might update soon again, but of course (this is me going review-begging), if I know you want to know, then I'm going to be faster. Just kidding. You'll know pretty soon what's up and what will happen. Peace and Love**


	3. It's a thief in the night

**Okay, everyone, here's Chapter 3. Didn't wanna leave you with a Cliffhanger for too long. Thanks to everybody who has read and reviewed so far, I hope you like this one here too. **

**Disclaimer: I only kown Nicole Ferguson and The Spider. The title of this chapter is from Rihanna's _Disturbia_. I don't own it.  
**

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**Chapter 3: It's a thief in the night...  
**

Ryan froze. The voice came from the living room he was just about to leave, from right behind him. "Who are you?"

The voice chuckled, "I am who they call The Spider. Stupid name by the way, but well, what do you expect from the press…"

"What do you want?"

"Why don't you slowly come back to the couch and sit down again? And don't try anything stupid. I'm really not in the mood for it now."

"What, you wanna kill me like you killed that woman last night?" Ryan didn't know what to do. His gun was lying in the safe, so The Spider couldn't have that one. But Ryan decided to not yet put up a fight. "Okay. I'm going back to the couch. And then you tell me how you got in and what you want. Deal?"

Again, a chuckle. "Deal."

Ryan turned around. The room was in complete darkness, but he noticed the silhouette next to the open window. That was probably how The Spider got in. He sat on the couch, "I gotta admit, you're quite courageous to come here unarmed. I am a cop, you know?"

"Who says I'm not armed?"

"Yeah, right, you prolly have… whatever you had to strangle an innocent, helpless woman with you. What was it, by the way?"

He didn't hear the footsteps approaching, but suddenly the voice was right next to his ear, "Okay, Mr Wolfe, let's talk business. I did not kill that woman. I don't run around and kill people. I never did, and I will never do."

Ryan closed his eyes to hide his shock, "Okay, okay. Let's say I believe you. Hell, I don't even believe you're The Spider. Can you prove it to me?"

"I don't have to prove anything, Mr Wolfe. I'm afraid, but you just have to take my word for it. But then again, why would I lie?"

"Okay. Let's say I believe everything you are saying here. You're standing right behind me, you probably have a gun or something pointed at me. How can I assume you don't freak out? So how can I assume you haven't freaked out last night?

He felt hands on his shoulder. "Does this make you feel better? I'm not pointing a gun at you."

"You know, I could also now just grab your hands and do some smart move, and you'd lie at my feet within a second…." Ryan said.

"But you didn't so far. So you won't."

"Okay. Now tell me, what do you want from me?"

"I want you to listen. And then prove what I tell you."

"I'm not going to…."

"Just listen." The voice was sharp, suddenly. "I was there yesterday. I stole that ring. But I did not kill that woman. I got a call a few days ago; they told me they wanted that ring. They told me nobody was at home. I got in, walked to their guest bedroom, because I was told the ring was there. I had to cross the living room for it. Everything was okay. And then I couldn't find the ring. I searched the room for almost half an hour, but didn't find it. I decided to look in the living room for the ring. And there she was lying. Dead. I tried to help her, but it was too late. Then I heard a noise, and I jumped out of the next window."

Ryan had listened the whole time without interrupting The Spider. Now he asked, "So, you don't have the ring?"

"No. I don't even know if it exists."

"The husband claims it's been stolen. So, either he is lying, or you are."

"I am not."

Ryan couldn't help but believe The Spider. "Look, spider… That sounds awful. Can you just give me a name or something, so I can address you?"

"Anything but my real name… Call me Lee."

"Thank you. So, Lee. I believe you. For now. If I find out you're lying to me… Anyways. This sounds to me as if you were set up. Who called you?"

"My Boss. No names there."

"Okay. So you work for someone, not for yourself?"

"Yes. I get paid well, though, so no worries there."

"That's nice. Here's what I think. Somebody wanted you there, so they could pin the murder on you. I don't know if you were supposed to find that ring, but I guess not. Either the husband has taken it long before you were there to keep you long enough in the house, so that he could kill his wife in the meantime. That would make the TOD and the moment you were in the house at the same time. If there were any eye witnesses, they could confirm that. He knew if you didn't find the ring immediately, you would remain there, searching for it. Or the husband is innocent, and somebody else wanted you there, for the same reasons though. I think somebody set you a trap. And you stepped in it. They probably even wanted to catch you, but you were to fast to get out. After all, who jumps out of a window on the third floor?"

A chuckle. "Easy one for me. So, what are you gonna do now?"

"I'm going to look for that ring. And try to find out. But I'm gonna tell you one thing. You said you tried to help her, I guess doing CPR. Our ME might find traces on the vic. And I don't know if you're in the database."

"I'm not."

"I'm trying to help you. If you were honest. If you lied to me and I find out, I'm going to get you. And I'm going to bring you to jail…"

Now Lee laughed openly, "You wouldn't wanna spoil all the fun for that hysteric little cop who's after me, now, would you? But thank you for helping me…"

Ryan felt the hands that were still lying on his shoulder go away. He turned around and got a glimpse at the shadow jumping out of his living room window. He looked at the window for a whole minute, then he pinched himself. The sharp pain told him this weird situation had just been real. He had just talked to Miami's most known thief. And he had agreed to help. He must have been mental! His hands, now trembling a bit (after all, The Spider could have had a gun!), reached for his cell phone and dialled a number.

"Ferguson?" answered the sleepy voice at the other and of the line.

"Nicole, it's Ryan. I just got a visitor."

"Did you at least pay her well? What the heck tells you you have to wake me in the middle of the night to tell me such rubbish???!??!???!??!"

He grinned, "The Spider was just here."

Silence, then, "WHAT????????? You got to be kidding me! Hold him, I'll be there in a few seconds!!!!"

"He's gone already, but you can come, if you want. I got to talk to you about something…"

"I'll be right there."

"I'm waiting. Oh and by the way. He? He is a she. The Spider is a girl."

* * *

**Surprise! You wouldn't have guessed that, now, would you? Just kiddin'. Please read and review. **


	4. Pick a card, any card

**And here's Chapter Number 4... Sorry it took me so long to update, but university and work really kept me busy.... Anyways. There you go. CRD, see? :D Have fun, and please read and review :D**

**Disclaimer: Own nothing but Nicole and Boris. Chapter Title is from the Pussycat Dolls' song "Magic"  
**

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**Chapter 4: Pick a card, any card  
**

How Nicole had managed to be at his flat only 10 minutes after she had hung up on him (or, as he guessed, dropped the phone at his last comment) Ryan would never know. He only knew that suddenly the doorbell went ballistic. He opened the door and had to grin. Nicole was standing there, wearing a trench coat over her pink night gown that clashed with the red hair, glasses instead of her contacts, no handbag (so no wallet and no driver's license) and looked at him like she was Norman Bates and he the camera in the final scene of _Psycho_. Still he couldn't stop grinning, "A sight for sore eyes. Pink is really your colour."

"Shut up. Do you think it was fun to get here, in the middle of the night, dressed only in this? Now tell me, where is she and what the hell happened here?"

Ryan waved her to sit down and told her the whole story. Nicole listened carefully, she didn't interrupt him once. At the end, Ryan said, "I know you prolly think I am an idiot, and I may be one. But I believe her. And after all, she's a witness as reliable or unreliable as any other. I mean… It sounds convincing enough, doesn't it?"

"Not for me. But you're a guy. You think with a different part of your body than me."

"Alright, but I'm not Delko, I can think with both ends of my body…"

Now Nicole laughed, "Yeah okay, you made a point there. Okay, so, what are we gonna do?"

Ryan looked at her, "We? How, we? I thought you gonna bit my head off!"

"And I will if you're wrong. But you know I didn't trust the hubby. And I don't think she'd come here to tell you all this if she were the murderer. Unless…. Unless it's to set you a trap."

"You think?" Ryan had never thought about that possibility. "But I didn't feel like I was in danger or something. I don't think it's a trap. Why would it?"

"The guy's Russian. Boris. His wife was too. And I don't trust the Russians anymore. He could be on this. And your little friend there, Lee, too."

Ryan sighed, "I don't know why it is always me that gets into this. Not a month ago I had to trust a complete stranger because my uncle's life was on the line. And now? I have to trust a complete stranger who saw me naked."

Now Nicole grinned wildly, "She saw you naked? Well, I would invent any story for that picture. I'm sure she was impressed."

Ryan wanted to answer something, but then stopped. The moment he had heard Lee's voice, he had completely forgotten about how his back looked. It was dark enough in the room, so that he could guess that she hadn't noticed. But suddenly he was thinking of what she had said, or thought, if she had seen it.

Nicole noticed the sudden change in him and did what she always did; she subtly changed the subject, "So, what's the plan?"

Ryan frowned, "Well, we gotta wait what Tara gets off the autopsy. And then I think we should get a warrant to search the property of the Petrovskys and see if we find that ring…"

"Yeah, but, we'll only get a warrant if Tara finds something that points to the husband. What do you want to tell a judge? That a thief is your only eye witness? Won't work. Not even if I sleep with the judge."

"Then let's hope she finds something. Or else… the only possibility is that you catch her. If she then tells you about this, we can get that warrant."

"And how am I supposed to get her? I mean, I know I can, we all can, yes we can, but I didn't manage to get her so far, so what tells you I will tomorrow?"

Ryan grinned, "I have no idea. I guess we're all gonna wait for the cool car chase you two are gonna have."

"You're an idiot. No seriously, I think we have to focus on what we can find in the husband's house. Maybe we don't need a warrant. I mean, it's a crime scene."

"Yeah, but we cannot open every drawer in this whole damn house…"

Nicole sighed and got up, "I'm gonna need to sleep about this one."

"You're not seriously gonna drive home now?"

"Yes, why not?"

"You don't have your driver's license with you, you don't have your badge with you. And while I guess the whole city knows you, I'd still feel more comfortable if I give you a ride home."

"You're gonna go all patrol on me? Like you did with Derek Powell's client? What was it, something like 'You're driving 36 in a 35 zone'? That must have been one cool stunt you pulled there."

Ryan sighed, "You really have your ears and eyes everywhere, don't you? It was to teach Powell a lesson."

"He must have been scared to death. But back to business. I'm gonna drive myself. You need to sleep, because you look damn tired. And though you act all tough guy on me, you don't have a thief in your flat everyday, so… I'll be alright."

"You're sure?"

She smiled, "Of course. Go to bed, Ryan. And if anything happens, don't hesitate to call me. I'll even let the phone on."

"Aren't you just sweet?"

----

Ryan went to see Tara first thing the next morning. She had just finished the autopsy on Petrovsky's wife. "Morning Ryan. You're here for the results, I suppose."

"Bingo. You got anything?"

"Not much, I'm afraid. COD is strangulation. She had no chance."

"Do you have an idea what was used?"

"Nothing big. I'd say… a cord, a shoelace. And it was a slow death. Your murderer really needed four goes. I found something under her fingernails and sent it to Valera already. What I found more was that she had a broken rib. Post mortem."

Ryan nodded; that was most likely from the CPR. "Anything else. Maybe saliva on her lips?" Tara gave him an odd look. "No sorry. Forget that one. I'm tired."

"You sure look like it. More sleep, less clubbing." Tara smiled.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's right. Okay, I go and see Valera. Thanks, Tara."

"Anytime."

Valera had a result already. "Skin under her fingernails? From the husband."

Ryan frowned, "Really? He had no scratches as far as I could see."

"Well, I can only tell you what DNA is telling me. And it screams: HUSBAND. Loud and clearly… Oh, there's Nicole."

Ryan turned around. Yeah, there she was. And she looked way better now. "Good morning everyone."

Valera grinned, "HUSBAND!!! Before you even ask."

Nicole smiled, "I knew it. Skin under her nails? Now, that was an easy one."

Ryan shook his head, "I'm so sorry to disappoint you, but I don't think it is. He had no scratches on his face or neck."

"So what?"

"So, if she had scratched him while he strangled her, he would have scratches on either his face and neck, or his hands, or arms. And face, neck and hands were clean."

Nicole wiggled her nose, "I don't get it."

Ryan sighed, "It's an easy one. Watch." He walked up behind her. "If I strangled you like this…." He pretended to do, "and you try to fight me, the only body parts of me you can reach is either my hands, to get them off of you, or my face, to hurt me, or my neck, for whatever reason. If I wear short sleeves, you can even scratch my arms. But nothing more. See what I mean?"

Nicole just grinned at Valera, saying, "No, not really… Can you show me again? More detailed… and longer? And maybe closer?"

Ryan shoved her gently away, "And you say men only think with one part of our body…" But he smiled. "Maybe Travers can show you…"

"Maybe I ask him to… But anyways, I've been busy too. I have checked Petr… Perto… Rasputin, and I came up with a prior. Aggravated assault. Never punished."

"Has he some connection to our Russian mob?"

"Nope. And this is what I found frustrating. It would have been so much cooler if he had."

"Not really though…"

"Yeah, that's what you say. You don't know how it feels when every cop you know is trying to keep the city safe from a Russian mob and all you do is chase after a thief. I want some action again."

Ryan leaned against the door post, "Well, let me just remind you that you were called to a bank robbery yesterday, where you would have had plenty of action. It was you who decided to come and join us…"

"Oh shut up. Come on. I'm gonna call a judge for a warrant to search Rasputin's house, property, garden, trees, cars, pets and himself. Maybe we know in like… half an hour…that he killed her, and I can go back and follow The Spider. Just like in the good old days…."

---

Twenty minutes later, Ryan, Nicole and some patrols knock on Petrovsky's door. He opened, "Officers… Have you found him? The Spider?"

Ryan waited a few seconds, but when Nicole didn't say anything, he showed Petrovsky the warrant, "No, not yet. But we have a warrant to search you and you property. Would you let us in, please? One of our officers will bring you to the lab while we search your house."

Petrovsky looked at him, his eyes showing that he didn't understand, "I'm sorry but… why?"

Nicole smiled, "Well, for once because we found your skin under your wife's fingernails. You might understand that this looks very odd to us, so we wanna take a closer look at you."

"I still don't understand, but if you want to, I cannot stop you. But why search my property?"

Ryan had thought about that, "Well, since it is possible you might have killed your wife, and since we didn't find any signs that The Spider was here, we might as well conclude that this is only about killing your wife and put the blame on somebody else, so it is possible that, since no thief was ever here, that we might also find the missing ring. And now, will you please accompany our officer to the car. We see you at the lab later on."

Petrovsky looked at him, but he didn't say a thing.

---

Ryan took his time with the house. His first stop was the guest bedroom. He could see the drawers that Lee had been searching through. They were messy. He took several swaps, hoping he might find some sort of DNA Lee had left behind, but his hopes were small. But he didn't find the ring. His next stop was the bedroom. The side of the bed were the wife had been lying was still looking like she'd left the bed only a couple of seconds ago. Ryan looked at it, a sad feeling coming over him.

Nicole, who was standing in the door post with the hands in her pockets, noticed it, "You're thinking about your mother, right?"

Ryan nodded, "Yeah, I was just wondering… If my mother had died, would my father have left her bed untouched too? I mean… is that how Petrovsky feels? About loosing his wife?"

Nicole sighed, "I don't know. Looking at this, I'd really say that he misses her. But you know…" She shrugged, "We meet those people everyday. They just act…"

"Yeah, I know…" He opened his kit and took his glasses and the UV light out. "Can you close the shutters and turn the lights off, please?"

"Mhm, that sounds promising…" Nicole grinned and did what she was told. When the room was dark, Ryan turned the UV lamp on. The sheet started lighting instantly. "Wow… that's what I call a healthy sex life…"

Ryan chuckled, "Indeed… I wish I knew when they last changed the sheets…."

"Don't even think about that. If they changed the sheets like to days ago and still made such a mess, you'll only feel bad that your sheets don't look like that."

"Who says they don't?"

"Ryan. You and I…."

Ryan put the light down, "Yes?"

"We're both cops. We have no time for nasty things." She grinned, "I wish I knew what you expected now…"

He smiled back, "Exactly that… But since we're at it… I have to ask you a question… And I… I hope this isn't too private… but I think it's necessary…"

Nicole frowned, "Ask…."

"I… em… I just wonder…. If you're about to have sex, do you take your rings and stuff off, and if yes, where do you put them?" He blinked at her. "That face now was priceless."

Nicole laughed, "I guess that serves me right…" Then she thought about it, "Well, you know my chunky jewellery. So I do take them of, and put them on the bedside table… or maybe in the drawer…"

Ryan nodded and opened the drawer. "Nothing… That would have been too easy anyways."

"Maybe he keeps it in his own drawer." Nicole walked over to the bedside table on the husband's side and opened it. "Whoa…"

"What?"

"Gun." Ryan handed her some gloves. She took the gun out. "Nice one… Smith and Wesson. Calleigh can tell you more about that…" She checked the gun cylinder. "Aha… That's interesting."

"What?" She showed the gun barrel to Ryan. "That's interesting indeed." There was only one round in the cylinder. "You think the guy is playing Russian roulette?"

"Why would he?"

"Why would anybody?"

"You got a point there… But we gotta ask him about that one." Nicole bagged the gun. "Maybe he also just fired five shots and forgot to reload it. Yes, I know that sounds stupid, don't give me that look."

"He might have been threatened…"

"What?"

"Well, I've read that sometimes, Russian Roulette is used as a threat, or a torture method. You know, it's possible to manipulate the whole game. So they play with you, they pretend that you have this 1:6 chance that you're gonna die, they fire, but they know exactly that you're not gonna die cause they manipulated the gun. Houdini did that, apparently. Or they insert a blank. You know, there's so many different methods…"

"You've been reading a lot lately." Nicole grinned.

"I read a lot all the time. I'm a scientist. Don't tell me you never read gun magazines or…. typical cop stuff."

"Well, if you consider cleaning tips and _Cosmopolitan_ cop stuff, yeah, I do read a lot too. So, you think somebody has threatened him? Alright. Then tell me, why did he keep the gun?"

"Well… remember Jack Sparrow?"

"What?"

"Jack Sparrow kept his last bullet for Captain Barbosa…"

Nicole looked at him for a second- and then started laughing. "Oh damn it. This is way too funny! You're all out of ideas, aren't you?"

Ryan grinned too, "Yeah okay, this wasn't very scientific. How about you and I just head back to the lab and see what he's telling us…."

"I can't wait to hear that excuse…"

* * *

**Me neither. :D I hope you liked this. CRD asked me about Russian Roulette, so I thought I bring it in... Speaking of you... how about A Cold November in Miami update? :D :D :D **


	5. Cruel discoveries

Okay, guys, here's my new chapter. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. I love them all, and I love you all.

**Warning: This chapter contains mentions of rape. **I'm going to raise the rating to T, but still, now you know.

**Disclaimer: Don't own nothing you recognize.... **

* * *

**Chapter 5: Cruel discoveries**

When they arrived at the lab, they ran into Natalia, who was reading through a folder, "You won't believe what this guy is telling me…"

Ryan frowned, "Let me guess. She scratched him during the wild sex orgy they have every night."

Natalia looked at him, "How the hell did you find that out?"

He grinned, "Let's just say, their sheets tell more then 1000 words. So, where did she scratch him?"

Now it was Natalia's turn to grin, "Well, practically, it wasn't scratching as we know it. It was more digging your fingernails in his…"

"Back?"

"Right side, but I'd dig deep if I were you…."

Nicole frowned, "His butt?"

"Bingo. You wanna see the pictures?"

"Nope. I just trust you CSI eyes that it really is the butt…" Nicole shook her head, "So, but I guess that, if he strangled her, she prolly didn't scratch his butt to defend herself…"

"You guess correctly. So, a dead end. What did you find?"

Ryan filled her in, "Did he appear to you like he was being threatened?"

Natalia thought about it, but then shook her head, "But then again, I mean, he was standing butt naked there. I'm sure this kept him busy not thinking about a gun…" She frowned, "And I understand we've got nothing else from the victim? Or anything in the house?"

Ryan shook his head, "I took samples from the sheets, I'm gonna bring them to Valera…. But nothing out of the ordinary." He sighed. Nothing out of the ordinary, which meant, The Spider was still their prime suspect. Nothing framed the husband except for some scratches on his butt. Ryan shrugged. "I go and see what Valera tells me. Maybe everything is not as it seems…."

Natalia nodded, "I just cannot believe that The Spider did this. He seemed like one of those that just don't kill…"

"Yeah… maybe sh…. He didn't. We'll see…"

-----

Valera was busy with Nicole. Ryan hadn't even noticed Nicole had left when he was talking with Natalia. "At what point did we lose you?"

"The butt naked point…" Nicole grinned. I was just stopping by to see my beloved sister in crime Maxi, and then I go and see what that cute guy in Trace has for me…."

"Travers? We didn't bring him anything." Ryan answered.

But Nicole just smiled, "Who said I was talking about trace…" She turned to Valera. "I keep you posted…"

Valera smiled back, "I can't wait to hear…."

Ryan watched Nicole leaving, "I'm not gonna ask what she finds about him…."

"She had a thing for geeks since we've known each other. She just switched the lab from AV to Trace."

"You mean… her and Cooper?"

Valera laughed, "Oh no…. Oh my God. No, Tyler Jenson. She always had a thing for him, but never went further than just a bit of flirty bantering. Don't know why, though. Maybe because she was afraid she'd have to share him with his computer…"

"You girls never cease to surprise me…" He handed her over the swaps he had taken. "Can you run these against Petrovsky? They're samples from their… bed…"

Valera took them, "So it's true? He has scratches on his butt?"

"Why is everybody going on and on about that butt? I haven't even seen it yet. But yeah, he had scratches on his butt. Doesn't sound like he got them while killing his wife."

"Looks more like he was maybe too brutal during a BJ." Valera said. Ryan looked at her. "I read that somewhere. In a book. He was a little bit too demanding and she as a consequence dug her nails into his butt… But anyways. You want me to look at those?" she said casually.

"Errr… yeah. I'll just stay here…" He shook his head, wondering what got into Nicole and Valera. The two had been known to be far from normal human beings. But now Valera was talking to him about BJs, and Nicole was probably planning on forming a new Empire here in the lab with Travers. He was just wondering if it wouldn't be better to look them both into different rooms for the rest of their lives when he saw Valera was frowning. "What?" Valera didn't answer but proceeded silently. Then again, a frown. "Valera?" No answer, but only more hectic movement. "Valera, will you tell me what's up?"

Now Valera raised her head, "I don't know what happened at that house. But the samples you gave me? No one matches the husband."

"What? Oh good, and here I thought something was wrong with me and my sex drive… See what you two did, you got me talking about sex too…"

"The samples don't match each other…." Valera looked at him. "What kind of guy have you got there?"

Ryan was silent for a moment, trying to handle that. "I don't know. Are you sure? Like 100%?"

"Even more, if that was any possible."

Ryan nodded, "I'm go to Tara and ask her for a rape kit…"

----

After he had asked Tara for a rape kit, he went to Trace lab. When he opened the door, Michael Travers and Nicole were both sitting on the desks, talking. "And then she said…" "No, really?" "Yes, and I was so surprised…" "I can understand it, I would have been too." "And I really think that she should have…" "Yeah, indeed she should… This little…"

"Guys?" Ryan interrupted. Nicole and Travers turned around. "Are you gossiping?"

"Of course." Nicole answered. "Valera's done? What have you got?"

"Multiple different DNAs on the sheets. Nothing from the husband."

"What??????" Nicole jumped off of the desk. "What??????? You gotta be kidding me? And here I thought men can actually have that much sex! What happened there, was she raped?"

"I told Tara to make a rape kit."

"Didn't she tell Nat the wife wasn't raped?????"

"Yeah, but she prolly thought because she was dressed and all…"

"Oh gosh, that girl needs to not speak before having thought. How long's that gonna take? I want to see the husband. Has somebody checked the gun? Where's Calleigh when you need her?"

Travers chuckled, "I might have an idea…"

Nicole grinned, "Yeah, indeed… But seriously, we need her now."

--

Calleigh was not as distracted as Travers thought, and had just finished the gun. Nicole flipped through the folder that contained her report, "Dead end again. No serial number, and the gun has never been fired. I hate this case."

"Tell me about it. Let's go and see Tara…"

----

Kyle was standing in the morgue when the two got in. He smiled at Nicole. "I heard you screaming in Trace lab. You're here for the rape kit?"

"Yap. Where's Tara?"

"Don't know. Somewhere back. But I have your folder here." He handed it to Nicole who opened it and read through it. "You don't look too happy?"

Nicole put the folder down and shook her head, "No, not really…" She showed Ryan the folder. "But I know somebody who will be much less happy then I am. If he's a man, that is… Thanks, shorty."

"Anytime, Ms Ferguson."

-----

Nicole and Ryan sat opposite Boris Petrovsky in the interrogation room. He still looked pretty shaken. "When can I have my wife back?"

Ryan waited for Nicole to say something, but when she didn't, he answered, "I'm sorry, Mr Petrovsky, but it's gonna take us longer than we thought…I have to ask you a few questions as well… Were you home the whole evening? When your wife got killed?"

"Of course I was. I told you."

Nicole took a few notes while Ryan continued, "How about the night before?"

"I was there too. I left yesterday early in the morning and got home at around 6 PM."

"Did you notice something about your wife?"

Petrovsky looked at him, "Like what?"

"Was she behaving different from what you know?"

Petrovsky thought about that, "Now that you mention it, she was pretty… silent. And nervous. Not yesterday morning. Yesterday morning everything was alright… She woke me and… well, you can imagine what she did… and then I left. She was still lying on the bed, looking at me when I said good bye. And when I got home, everything was different. She was nervous. And asked me questions about my work. She did that every evening, to know what my day was like, so I didn't think it was any… weird. And then we went to sleep. She said she had a bad headache when I wanted to… you know… But that was it. Why do you ask?" He looked at Ryan, who looked at the folder. "Did something happen?"

Ryan didn't know what to answer, so he showed Petrovsky the picture of the gun, "Do you know this gun?"

Petrovsky looked at the picture, "No, that's not mine. Mine is in the safe in the basement. The bullets are in the bathroom, hidden in the medicine cabinet. You can check on it if you want. I have a license. This gun is not mine. Where did you find it?"

"In your bedroom. Your bedside table." Ryan thought about whether it was a good idea to say the next sentence, but then he decided he had to, "There was only one round in the cylinder…"

Ryan could have never predicted the impact it had on Petrovsky. He looked at Ryan, eyes wide open, his whole body trembling. When he spoke again, his voice was hoarse and close to breaking, "What… did he do to… her?"

Ryan decided it was better not to answer that question, "Do you know who could be responsible for this. And why?"

"The Spider. He must be Russian. He must be with the mafia…" Petrovsky didn't talk as much to Ryan as to himself. "He must have done this… I…"

Nicole decided it was time to say something herself, "Boris, are you somehow involved with the mafia?"

Petrovksy looked at Nicole, "Not really. I own three restaurants. They told me that they are going to protect me and my property. I refused. They attacked my clients. I hired somebody to look after the restaurants. Nothing happened anymore…"

"Somebody? As in somebody with the mafia?"

"Not exactly. You wouldn't understand all of this. Point is that they couldn't get to my clients and my places anymore…. I thought we were safe… and now they have hired a thief to kill my wife…" He started sobbing.

Ryan looked at Nicole, Nicole looked back. Both got up and left the crying man alone.

---

In the break room, both sat down over a cup of coffee. Nicole frowned, "Some things don't add up…"

"Yeah, somehow… But tell me what you think…"

"Well. Going chronologically. Wifey wakes hubby up. With the possibly best wake up call on earth."

"Hell, yeah…"

"She did what girls do, and when she was finished, she remained in bed, savouring the smell of fresh sex on her sheets. He left. Let's say, she stays in bed for… 2 more hours. The bad guys come and rape her. Boris comes back at 6 PM. We find his DNA under her fingernails. It means she didn't shower after the rape. For the whole evening and night until she dies. That's just not natural. I mean, I deal with victims of rape quite often. They shower immediately."

Ryan nodded and said, "Well, there's one possibility to it. The guys were still in the house when Petrovsky came back, and she didn't have the time to shower. But then again, wouldn't he have noticed them?"

"Well, you've seen how big the house is. They could have hidden anywhere. Maybe they waited…"

"What for?"

"I don't know…" Nicole looked grimly into her coffee. "He said she was asking questions about his work. Maybe they wanted something from him…"

"And the gun? How you explain that? I mean, why would anybody leave a gun there if he already has killed the wife? I mean, how much more can you break a person than by killing what he loves most?"

"By killing him?"

Ryan smiled a bit, "Someone ever did something like this to somebody you love?"

"No. And I thank God every night for it. Why do you ask?"

"Well I don't know but… I guess if somebody would do this to the one I love… I don't think they could scare me anymore by threatening to kill me. I mean, this guy has nothing to life for anymore. I think, if those French terrorists had killed Ron… I don't know if I had come over it…"

Nicole looked at him, "You and your uncle are close, aren't you?" Ryan only nodded. "Do you think he knows anything about The Spider?"

Ryan raised his eyebrow, "Why would he?"

"Well, it's practically the same business…"

"How do you…"

Nicole smiled, "How do I know? I'm in the same dancing class as Ann Evans. I know what she does. She's my source in that business, but she doesn't know anything. And after this whole kidnapping thing, when she and your uncle got together, she introduced us. He was thrilled to meet somebody that works with you…"

"Did you ask him if he knows something?"

"No. I didn't want him to know I know what he does. But I remember you told Frank about an uncle of your's that is a safe cracker."

Ryan smiled, "You scare me sometimes. Is there anything I could hide from you?"

"A lot. And you do. I can see it in your eyes."

Ryan's smile froze a bit, "It's not that important after all. Finding out what happened to that poor woman is more important. I had Valera search the database, but I doubt she'll come up with something. If they were in the database, they surely would have left their DNA all over the place… I don't even wanna imagine what was going through her head during that ordeal. I just hope I'll never find out…"

"Well chances that you are being raped by a handful of Russians are pretty small, but I can see your point…" Nicole smiled. "So, what are the next steps? Besides getting some information from Maxi?"

"Well, if she's got something, we'll go get us those guys. If not… I don't know… Maybe we can dig deeper into Petrovsky's story. See if we find any ties to some known Russians… I seriously wanna catch them."

Nicole nodded, "We'll get them… And, for the record, I'll get The Spider, too."

-----

And Valera had a result. "One of your guys was in CODIS."

"Really? Those idiots." Nicole grinned. "What's his name?"

"Viktor Morozov." Valera showed them the picture. "He doesn't look too nice…"

"He looks like I'm gonna puke any second…" Nicole said dryly. "I can only repeat. Poor woman."


	6. Close?

Okay, guys, there you go. New Chapter. I hope you like it.

**As usual I don't own anything but Nicole and the bad people**

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**Chapter 6: Close?  
**

Patrol brought Viktor Morozov in about an hour later. Ryan and Nicole watched him through the glass walls before he walked in. Nicole had been right in her comment. He wasn't really the man women would love to make love with. He was tall, but heavily overweight. And when he had earlier talked to the police Ryan had noticed he missed already a few of his teeth. All in one, he was probably the rapist out of your worst nightmares.

Ryan shook his head, opened the door and let Nicole in before he entered. Nicole immediately walked out of sight from Morozov while Ryan first sat down opposite him, then waited for a few minutes before he said, "Sooo… I understand you had quite a bit of fun last night?"

"What do you want?"

"Well, I want to know how your semen ended up in Doria Petrovskaya's bed. And what she did to deserve it?"

Morozov smiled at him, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well, then let me refresh your memories. You and four other guys were at Boris Petrovsky's house yesterday. He wasn't there, so you thought you could have go at his wife. And she wound up dead that very same night, which makes me think that you might have something to do with it…"

Morozov laughed, "Yeah, right. Can you prove any of this?"

Nicole leaned against the wall, "We can prove that you were there, we can place you at the house, in the bed…." She walked behind Morozov, "This must have been a serious turn on for you. Raping a helpless woman. And you didn't even have to pay for her…. But well, now you're gonna pay for it anyways. You probably shouldn't have come all over the place…"

Morozov turned around and faced Nicole, "You probably should be careful with whom you're talking…."

Ryan raised his head, "So, rape and threatening a police officer? That should give you some years. But we could help you. A bit maybe. Why don't you tell us who was with you when you raped her, who killed her and who told you to do all this?"

Morozov shook his head, "I won't. Why don't you let me go and save yourself some trouble…?"

"I won't." Ryan got up. "We'll find it out anyways. Don't worry about that." He and Nicole left.

---

Outside, Nicole shook her head, "I don't know what to do anymore. He is not gonna tell us anything. Can we keep him here?"

"Sure. We have his little boys in her sheets, and we have signs of rape on her. And he threatened you."

"Well, but can we prove anyhow that he raped her? I mean, it could also be that he was there before, and she got raped by other people?" Nicole wiggled her nose.

Ryan frowned, "Well… his lawyer would probably come up with something like that. But I mean, how possible is that? If you were a sane woman, would you sleep with him?"

Now it was Nicole's turn to frown, "If I _were_ a sane woman? Am I not?"

Ryan blushed, "Ah, well, I…."

"But to answer your question. I wouldn't even sleep with him if I get money for it. And you know I do practically everything for money."

"Okay. But still, it won't really help us."

"Because nobody in court listens to an insane woman like me…." She grinned.

"I didn't mean it… Oh seriously. Come on, let's go home. It's shift end anyway. And we've done a lot today…"

"Yeah, really. Been to a thousand places. You're going home now?"

"Yah. Just me, a beer and my TV. How about you?"

"No way I'm going home. Tomorrow's my day off, and I'm going to hit the clubs tonight. I'm not a granny…."

"So what, I'm old?"

Nicole grinned, "Yeah, you're old and I'm insane. Gotta live with that…"

---

When Ryan got home, he was greeted by a completely dark flat. He frowned; had he forgot to pull the shutters up? But when he heard the voice, he knew he hadn't.

"It's been a long day, Mr Wolfe…"

He frowned, "Have you ever heard of just ringing the door bell and get in through a door?"

"Yes. That's what I do in my every day life. But it wouldn't be appropriate for The Spider now, would it? What have you got?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to talk to you about an ongoing investigation."

"I'm a part of this, aren't I?" She chuckled. "But don't worry, I have my sources everywhere…"

"Yeah, you girls always have sources…."

She laughed, "Yeah, I know your lovely cop friend has been asking around a lot for me. She's not really the brightest, is she?"

"Are you here to talk about her, or do you want to tell me something more?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, maybe you remembered something more which happened at the crime scene?"

"No. I told you everything I know. But I've seen you at the house today, and I've seen you questioning Morozov. Is he on that?"

"You know him?"

She sighed, "Everybody knows him. He's a moron. You might wanna be careful around him…"

Ryan nodded, "Can I sit down on the table in my own apartment, please?"

She laughed, "You can even join me on the couch if you don't turn the lights on…"

Ryan did, "Are he and Boris Petrovsky involved with the Russian mob we're investigating?"

"No. I don't know about Petrovsky, but Morozov is not a part of them. He has his own little mob. Full of guys like him."

"And they don't hang around with the other Russians?"

"I would be surprised if they did. Morozov is not they guy to share his success with other guys."

"How does Petrovsky fit in? He said the mafia threatened him."

She chuckled, "I thought you were the cop. You should think about that. I can only tell you what I know about Morozov. He's a jerk. He's a low life. He deserves being in jail."

"You know him a bit more, don't you?"

"More than I'd like to…" She got up. "Take care. He isn't afraid to get dirt on his hands…" And with two large leaps and one swift jump, she was out of his window again.

Ryan sighed and turned the lights on. Then he looked a bit at his door and grabbed his keys. This couldn't wait. She would bite his head of, but it had to be done.

--

He stood in front of Nicole's flat twenty minutes later. She opened the door at his first ring. Again, he had to suppress laughter. She was dressed in her bathing robe and had curlers in her hair. "What??"

"I'm sorry." He smiled, "I didn't know your curls were fake."

"They are, as well as the colour. I'm a natural brunette. What do you want? I gotta get ready to party." she replied.

"I'm sorry. The Spider was there again."

"Did you at least arrest her this time?"

"Nope. But we might have something… Two things actually."

She sighed, "Can't you just leave me alone?"

"Nicole…."

"Yeah, okay, get in. Damn it. When you look at me with those eyes, I can't possibly say no. Like a little puppy. Tripp does the same all the time."

"Tripp? He looks at you with puppy eyes?" Ryan entered the flat.

"Not the detective. My dog."

Ryan froze on the spot. "You have a dog?"

"Yeah. Frank Tripp. But you can call her Frankie."

"What breed is it?" He hoped for something nice and small, maybe a poodle…. But would she seriously name a poodle after Tripp?

"A Rottweiler. But don't worry, she's sweet. She doesn't even bite Kate Moss."

"And Kate Moss is…..?" _Please, don't let it be a Doberman…._

"A cat." She looked at him, smiling. "You're sweating… Are you afraid of dogs?"

"No… no no no no no…. Okay, a bit maybe. But if you say she won't… eat me." He nervously ran his hand through his hair.

Nicole smiled, "She won't. Come on, I'll introduce you to her." She motioned him to her living room. The Rottweiler sat next to the couch on a blanket. When Ryan walked in, she immediately raised her head and growled. Nicole sat down next to her, "Frank, stop this, we're not at work. Now, this is my friend Ryan Wolfe. Friend, Frank, you hear that?" She grabbed Ryan's hand and held it in place. "Friend, Frankie. Nice friend…" The dog got up, slowly and approached Ryan's hand. She first snuffled, then slowly raised her paw and laid it in Ryan's hand.

Ryan shook it slowly. "I think I might faint…" Frankie turned around and cuddled back onto her blanket. "Okay. Where's the cat?"

"I guess in the dirty laundry…" She walked into her bedroom and grinned. "Yeah, there she is. Hello Katie… I brought a man home. Well, he mainly came here. Uninvited." Ryan waited outside the bedroom. Suddenly, a cat walked out. She looked at Ryan with her large green eyes- and then turned back to the bed room. Nicole, who had stood at the door frame, grinned, "Yeah, she doesn't cuddle with everyone. A bit like me." She motioned him over to the kitchen. "So, what do you want?"

"Well, I have found out two things…"

"Coffee or tea?"

"A soda, please. The Spider knows about Morozov, and she said that he's a real jerk. And that he's not involved with the Russian mafia, but he has his own little mob there. Second… I think we might have found a way to find out Lee's true identity."

Nicole turned around, a manic look on her face, "How?"

"You have done a background check on Morozov, right?"

"Yah. Why?"

"Have you found any priors involving a young female victim?"

Nicole took a sip of her coffee, "Well, he had a prior for assault. But the charges were dropped. They said because he threatened the victim. She didn't want to testify against him."

"Do you remember the name?"

Nicole nodded, "Shona MacAllister. I remember because she was half Scottish. We hate the Scots."

"They hate you too."

"Yeah. So much about _United_ Kingdom. Brits and Scotts hate each other, and let's not even start about the Irish. So, you think that's her?"

"I don't know."

"You must have heard an accent…."

"Nicole, if she's been in the States for like half her life…"

Nicole frowned, took a sip of her coffee, then frowned again, then put the cup down. "I'll need 5 minutes to get those crappy things out of my hair and get dressed. If this woman is The Spider, this was the last night visit she paid you."

----

They arrived at the lab half an hour later. Nicole immediately stormed to the nearest computer and hacked on the keyboard. "There, is that her?" She showed Ryan a picture on the screen. It showed a girl in her mid twenties. She had long brown hair, brown eyes, and was a real beauty.

Ryan frowned. "You do realize I've only seen her when it was completely dark."

"Okay. Did her voice sound like this could be her?"

"You're very desperate… I guess it could be, I have no idea. How did you get to her picture?"

"She's in the system. Minor thing though. Come on, let's pay her a visit."

"I thought you wanted party?"

"Believe me, if I get her tonight, I'll have a party till next week."

* * *

**Hope you liked it. I chose the name Shona because of one of my teachers. She's my goddess. This chapter is dedicated to her, even though she'll never read it. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so **far.


	7. Shoot em up, bang bang

Because I'm on a writing spree on weekends, here you have my next Chapter. Damn I am FAST.... :) Anyways....

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Nicole and everything else that you have never seen on the show. The title of this chapter is taken from the song _Another Way to die_ by Jack White and Alicia Keys. I don't own that song either.**

Please enjoy....

* * *

**Chapter 7: Shoot em up, bang bang....  
**

Ryan and Nicole drove to the address, patrol cars behind them. Ryan parked and both walked to the front door. Nicole rang the bell. "Miami Dade Police, open the door, Ms MacAllister…"

And really, the door opened. Shona MacAllister stood there, only looking at Nicole, "So, you found me…"

That was the last thing Nicole and Ryan had expected. Nicole just stood there, looking at Shona, "Err… yes. You have the right to remain silent…"

"I know that one. Can I just pack a few things and call someone to look after my cat?"

Nicole nodded, "I join you if you don't mind…"

"Go ahead…"

Ryan scratched his head and followed, watching Shona packing a few things into her bag and making a call. He frowned, "What happened here? Did she just give in without any further fuzz?"

Nicole smiled, "Well, you know what they say about the people of the UK: quiet and dignified. Are you done?" MacAllister nodded. "Then put you hands on your back please, I carry your bag…" She did without protesting. "Thank you for being so cooperative."

"Quiet and dignified, Ms…"

"Ferguson. Nicole Ferguson."

"Ms Ferguson. How did you find me?"

"A long story. I tell you later." She opened the door for MacAllister and guided her to one of the patrol cars. Then she turned to Ryan, "I'll drive with her if you don't mind. Now that I have her, I won't let her alone anymore…"

"You know I seriously think that something went wrong here…"

"Like what?"

Ryan grinned, "I was seriously expecting you to jump into her face and bang her head against the nearest doorpost…"

Nicole laughed, "I wonder what you guys always think about me."

"Well, you're fiery. A real fiery red head…" He turned around to walk to his own car but then said, "Remember what you said? About what would happen if you catch The Spider?"

She smiled a bit, "I do… Evening is still young, you know? She'll be in custody till tomorrow… We could actually… go out tonight?"

"I'd love to… I just go home and change, then I pick you up, how about that?"

"Great. And I promise I won't be in my bathing robe…"

----

Ryan arrived at Nicole's flat 90 minutes later. He rang the doorbell. Waited. Rang the bell again. Then he heard the dog barking. But no Nicole opened the door. Ryan tried the doorbell again. Then he called her number. No answer, and he didn't hear a phone ringing on the inside of her flat. He bit his lower lip. Weird. She should have been here by now. He tried the doorbell again, then knocked. Still, nothing happened.

But now, a neighbour got out, "Who are you?"

Ryan turned around to face an elderly woman, "Ma'am. My name is Ryan Wolfe, I'm with the police. Hasn't Ms Ferguson come home yet?"

"Is she in trouble?" The woman looked genuinely worried. "I always told her the music is too loud…"

Ryan grinned, "No, Ma'am, she's not in trouble. I'm a friend of hers. I was going to pick her up, she should be home by now…"

"Does she have a date? You look like a fine man to me…"

Ryan blushed, "Well, thank you, but it's not officially…"

"I always knew she was… one of those… always brings that woman with her home…"

"No Ma'am, it's not like you think… Look, I'm just wondering, has she come home during the last two hours?"

The woman shook her head, "No. I know, because the dog always makes loud noise when she comes home. She's a nice girl, so I never told the police…"

"Thanks, Ma'am…. I gotta make a quick call…" He turned around and walked back to the car. He dialled Nicole's number. Again and again. No one answered. The bad feeling Ryan had was growing. That's was not at all Nicole's style. He decided to do the next best thing.

Natalia answered immediately, "Boa Vista?"

"Nat, it's Ryan… Has Nicole been at the HQ already?"

Silence. "Ryan, haven't you heard?"

"No, what?"

"Somebody has fired at the patrol car that was supposed to bring The Spider in. Nicole was in it. I'm at the scene."

"Are they hurt?" Ryan had to lean against the car. _Please, not another one. Not another Delko…._

"Yes, both. But at least Nicole should be alright soon. For The Spider, we don't know…. She got a bullet close to her heart and is in a coma now. Nicole got two bullets, one in her shooting arm, one bypassed her lung only by inches. She's lost a lot of blood, but Alexx said she'll be okay in a few weeks."

"You need me at the scene?"

"You know how it is when a cop dies: All hands on deck. But you could actually go to the hospital and see if they got the bullets ready…."

"I'll be right there…"

---

Alexx waited for him already. "Ryan, there you are… A shame that we only meet when people we love are in hospital… How are you?"

He sighed, "Shocked. I was actually with her when we arrested the girl. She wanted to drive with her, in case she tried an escape… Is she really gonna be alright?"

"If she listens to what the doctor's are telling her. She needs absolute rest. And I mean, absolute."

"Oh dear… That's gonna be lots of fun. Have you got the bullets ready for me?"

Now, Alexx smiled, "Of course, baby. Bagged and sealed them already."

"You're great, Alexx. You think I could see the girls?"

"Sure…"

---

He went at first to see Shona MacAllister. Through the glass window only, of course. She was hooked up to all possible machines. He looked at her for a while. _This was not how I have imagined her…_ He didn't know what he had thought she would look like, but had he seen that pretty woman on street, he would have never thought that she was The Spider. She looked too fragile. But that might have been only because of all the machines. She was really beautiful. He sighed. He only hoped she survived. She had to. She had done nothing wrong, that he was now sure of. She hadn't killed the wife. She had been cooperative from the beginning on. Why would she do that if she had murdered an innocent woman?

---

For his next visit, he wasn't alone. He saw already through the window that Valera was there. She sat on a chair next to Nicole's bed, a handkerchief in her hand. Her eyes were red and puffy. Ryan knocked on the door. Valera raised her head motioned him to get in. He sat down on a chair besides her. "How are you feeling?"

She sobbed a bit, "Terrible. Just thinking about I could have lost my best friend today…"

He cautiously laid his arm around her shoulder, "I know… But seems it really takes more than a few bullets to get rid of her…"

Now, Valera managed a bit of a smile, "Doctors say she'll be alright again. If she rests. I'm going to move in with her, to look after the pets. So she has nothing to worry about…"

"That's a good idea. I bet that will calm her down a bit…"

Valera smiled, "I owe her that much. When I got fired, or after that thing with Nick Townsend, she was always there for me. She's the best friend I ever had…" She sighed and looked into Ryan's eyes, "You're gonna find who did this, right?"

"Of course we will. You know how it is when a cop is involved…" He watched Nicole a bit. She looked like she was sleeping. "I better go now and look at those bullets… or anything from he scene. When she wakes up, tell her to get well soon."

"I will. Thanks, Ryan… You cheered me up a bit."

"Anytime for my favourite lab rat…"

----

Ryan went straight to Calleigh with the bullets from the hospital. She immediately went to work and got back with a result. "The gun in question has been used in an armed robbery a few months ago."

"Any suspects?"

"Nope. A dead end, I'm afraid. You got to bring me a gun to compare it to… How about your suspect there, Morozov?"

"He was in custody. Unless he has ordered the hit…"

"Gotta dig a bit into his group, then…"

"Yeah… though I have no idea how…"

Calleigh smiled. "That's for you to find out…"

"Well, gotta do my best there, then…"

----

His next stop was Natalia. She was sitting over some pictures from the scene. "I seriously have no idea what to do with this. I mean, according to Cal, he used a normal gun, so he had to be close. Maybe from another car?"

Ryan looked at the pictures of the patrol car, "Yeah, seems like it. If we only knew who was the actual target…"

Natalia frowned, "I have the feeling they were there for Nicole. I mean, that Russian guy you arrested? He threatened her…"

"Yeah, but I don't know… I think they might were there for MacAllister. She was there at the scene when Petrovskaya was killed, and maybe somebody thinks she has seen something."

Natalia sighed, "That's a possibility too. I guess we have to wait for Nicole to wake up, so she can make a statement…. Doctors said we can ask her tomorrow. I guess you should do that. You two are on that case…"

Ryan shook his head, "I have something else to do tomorrow."

"Something more important than this case?"

"It's actually part of it…"

* * *

**To find out what everybody's favourite CSI hottie is up to, stay tuned for Chapter 8 (should be out tomorrow....)**


	8. Closer?

As promised, here's Chapter 8.

**Disclaimer: Don't own CSI Miami**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Closer?  
**

The next morning, Ryan drove over to South Beach. He hadn't forgotten how well Shona MacAllister had been informed about Morozov and his guys. It might have been because of her past encounter with him, but he had a feeling in his gut that she might know more than she told him. That Morozov was quite prominent in the scene. And that it was him who had told Shona's boss to tell her to get into that house. So many open questions… But Ryan wasn't out of ideas. If people in the scene knew him, Ryan knew two people that would too.

----

Ron Wolfe opened the door at his first knock, "Ah, Mr Busy Cop. To what do I owe this honour?" But he smiled. He knew Ryan never meant bad when he didn't call for weeks. He was just busy with this 24/7 job. "Come on in. What can I do for you? You want a cup of coffee?"

"Thanks, Ron… How are you?" Ryan was still a bit worried about how his uncle dealt with the aftermath of the kidnapping.

But Ron just shook his head, "Don't worry, kid. I'm alright. Leg still hurts a bit, but I'm a man after all…"

"Yeah, you sure are. How was thanksgiving?" He remembered Ron and Ann had spent Thanksgiving over at Ryan's parents.

"Yeah, it was okay. At least me and your father don't wanna beat each other up anymore as soon as we meet. I guess me trying to protect his wife impressed him."

Ryan nodded and asked hesitantly, "Did he ask for me?"

"Yes…" Ron sat down opposite Ryan, "A lot, actually. It was like he was trying to find out everything that happened since he threw you out. Of course, I only told him the good things…"

Ryan grinned, "Of course…"

But Ron became serious again, "You sure are not here to have a bit of small talk, or are you?"

Ryan took a sip of the coffee, "Yeah, you're right there. Actually I'm not. I have a case, and you might be able to help me. You and Ann. Is she here?"

"Yeah." He called out for Ann.

She came immediately, "Hey, Ryan. How are you doing?"

"Fine, thanks. How about you?"

"Besides my annoying boyfriend? Terrific." She grinned and sat down next to Ron. "So, to what do we owe this visit?"

Ryan started, "What do you know about The Spider?"

Ann frowned, "Nothing. No one knows anything about him. Only that apparently he works for somebody. Not for himself. He's more of a merc than any other thief I've ever heard of… But I don't know anything more. You do?" She turned to Ron.

Ron nodded, "A bit at least. It's a girl, right?"

"Indeed, she is. We caught her last night."

Both Ron and Ann froze, and Ron asked, "You're not here because she framed us? This is not a trap, right?"

"Oh, come on, Ron, as if I would do that…"

Ron nodded, "You're right. Sorry, kid. So, why are you asking then?"

"Shona, that's her real name, told us about a guy, Viktor Morozov. Does that name ring a bell?"

Now it was Ann who answered, "Yeah, it does. He's a low life. I met him once. His wife is in my dance class. She's okay, but really oppressed by her husband. Is he a criminal?"

"I cannot tell you about an on going case, but I think I can tell you that we have an eye on him… What do you know about the wife?"

Ann scratched her head, "Tatiana. She's a silent one. Doesn't talk much. I think she works as a nurse in Miami Dade Hospital…"

"What?" Ryan interrupted.

"Yes. I know because we had an accident in class once, and she knew exactly what to do, so I asked her how did she knew and she said she was a nurse in…"

"Oh, crap… Sorry, gotta make a quick phone call." He flipped his cell open and called Natalia.

"Boa Vista."

"Nat, it's Ryan. Listen, Morozov's wife works at the hospital. Have you got patrols placed in front of Nicole's and Shona's room?"

"Of course, do you think I am an amateur?"

"Oh good. I was afraid she might…"

"Ryan, don't worry, everything is okay. I just took Nicole's statement, and now I'm on my way to see Shona and talk to the doctors…"

"What did Nicole say?"

"She said a car pulled up next to them. The driver wore a mask. They always do. And he started shooting right away. First Shona. Nicole tried to shoot back, and she thinks she might have hit the car, but then she got hit in her arm."

"Anything about the car?"

"She says it was a white one. And a large one. But nothing more. But it shouldn't be too difficult to find a white car…"

"An ambulance…. Natalia, call the station, tell them we need more patrols out there…"

"Ryan, that's a bit far fetched. Nicole or the patrol that drove would have recognized an ambulance. I mean, it's not like… Oh my God…"

"What?"

"I'm in Shona's room now…. She's dead."

---

A bullet straight to the head had put an end to the glorious career of The Spider. Ryan stood next to her bed, looking at the fragile body. Natalia was just taking pictures. She shook her head. "And you would think nobody would shoot a person in a coma… At least she didn't feel anything…"

Ryan felt anger rising in him, "How was that possible? There was a cop in front of the door!"

"I know, but this is not my fault. He got a call from somebody, about an attack on one of the upper floors. It was a hoax call, but he followed. And when he got back, he didn't notice a thing."

"There's a body bleeding from her head, and he doesn't notice."

"Don't be too hard on him… Best thing we can do is now find out who did this. So, what did you tell me? Morozov's wife works here?"

"Yes. Ann, my uncle's girlfriend, told me. Tatiana Morozova, I guess. We got to bring her in. Nice family business they have…"

"We still don't know if she did this. It could be anyone."

"Oh come on." Ryan said, "How obvious can this be?"

Natalia sighed, "You're right. I have patrol bring her to HQ."

---

Tatiana Morozova was the complete opposite of her husband. She was an attractive woman in her thirties, with long blond hair and blue eyes. But they looked cold as steel when Natalia and Ryan sat down in front of her.

Ryan showed her a picture Natalia had taken. It was a face shot of Shona MacAllister. "How did it feel to kill an innocent woman?"

Tatiana looked at them, "She wasn't innocent. She was a thief. And a murderer."

Natalia shook her head, "She didn't kill anybody, Ms Morozova."

"You're lying. She killed Doria."

"Doria? Doria Petrovskaya?"

"Exactly. She killed her. She deserved to die. And I was nice. I gave her a painless death. She tortured Doria. To find out where the ring is."

Ryan frowned, "We found no signs of torture on her. Who told you all this?"

"My brother-in-law."

"Who is your brother-in-law?"

"Boris Petrovsky."

"What?" Natalia looked at her. "Doria Petrovskaya was your sister?"

"Yes…" Now tears dwelled up in her eyes. "And this thief killed my sister. She deserved to die…"

"Who told you that she killed Doria?"

"Viktor."

"This is getting better by the minute…" Ryan muttered under his breath. He apologized to Natalia and left the interrogation room. He knew Natalia could do well alone, but he had to sort his thoughts now….

_Doria Petrovskaya and Tatiana Morozova are sisters. They are married to __Boris Petrovsky and Viktor Morozov, which makes them brothers-in-law. Okay. We never asked Boris if he knew Viktor. That was bad. Now… Tatiana Morozova kills The Spider. She was told by Petrovsky and Morozov that The Spider killed her sister. She was probably the one who also shot at the car. So, where does that lead us? Boris Petrovsky told us that he thinks the mafia has bought The Spider and told her to kill Doria. We know that's not true. And Shona told us Morozov is not involved with the mafia…. What am I missing? Okay. Back to the evidence. We found Boris' skin under Doria's fingernails. He claims it's from the morning before. We found Morozov's semen in her sheets. From the rape. Every woman would shower after a rape. Why not Doria? _

He banged his hand against the glass wall. He was missing something. Something vital. He had to grin. Yeah, his usual problem. Obsessed with the details, but unable to see the bigger picture. He needed somebody to talk to. Somebody who knew, somebody who listened.

* * *

**Likey? Not likey? **


	9. The Fellowship reloaded

**Well, my week-end is almost over, but I still have this chapter for you (and maybe even the next) before I have to study a bit again... Anyways, I hope you like this chapter too, we're getting almost at the end... **

* * *

**Chapter 9: The Fellowship- reloaded  
**

„And I was thinking that maybe… We're missing a vital link. But I cannot put my finger on it. This is why I am here…" He turned around to face Nicole, who was sitting upright in her bed. "I know doctors would kill me if they knew it, and I'm sure Alexx would tie me up somewhere so that I cannot escape them. Nicole, what am I missing?"

"I don't know…" She scratched her head. "I mean, that all sounds plausible to me…"

"Yeah, 'cause that's the bit we've proved."

She smiled, "Okay. Sorry I forgot that one. I got hit, you remember?"

"Yeah, but nowhere important. So, what do you think we're missing?"

Nicole frowned, "Well… I don't know. I mean, there must be…"

But Ryan suddenly raised his head, "I know!!! The connection between Boris, Doria and Victor…"

"Yeah, they're family…"

"No. I mean, yes. But, you remember what Boris told us? The mafia threatened him and he got himself some guys to help him out against them. That must have been Morozov's people. And Morozov himself."

Nicole looked at him, "Well, that's possible. But that doesn't tell us why…."

"He said the harassment had stopped. I don't think that possible. I mean, we know the Russians. And he had a gun in his bedside table. What if this gun was never meant for him, but for the wife?"

"Yeah, okay, that's possible but why…?"

"I mean, what if she had an encounter with someone from the mafia? What if she wasn't that faithful after all?"

"Wouldn't he just have shot her? And how do you explain the rape?"

Ryan started pacing the room. "Okay. So no jealousy crime… Okay. Forget what I've just said. What reason would Morozov have to torture Doria?"

"Torture?"

"Yeah, that's what Tatiana said Boris had told her. I mean, that's pretty clear they did. I mean, rape?"

"Yeah, but wouldn't he just have told her they raped her?"

"As if a man in his position would think about appropriate vocab, Nicole"

"Yeah, okay… But still… Let me just dwell on that idea… Not that I'm a sadist now."

"Okay. I believe you there. So, they tortured her. Why? You torture people because they know something you want to know. Or because you want them to do something for you. Or because you want to punish them."

"Okay. So, what is the right one in Doria Petrovskaya's case? And how was she tortured?"

"Well, she was raped. But we didn't find anything else. No signs of a beating."

"I know…"

Ryan closed his eyes. "This is getting me nowhere." But then he looked out of the window. "I know it… Oh my God. We were so blind."

"What? How? Hey, you know doctors told me I have to rest? You talking like this upsets me."

Ryan turned to her, "You're faking. I know that…."

"Yeah, okay. But still. Come on. Tell me."

"We've been idiots. Boris is on it. If I'm not mistaken, Boris is the leader."

"How?"

"The ring. The person who told Shona's boss to steal that ring was Doria Petrovskaya. Why else would it be in the guest bedroom?"

"But Boris told us she wore it all the time."

"She didn't. There were no marks on her fingers indicating she wore anything else but her wedding ring."

"But I don't understand…."

"The ring must have been worth more than we think. At least to Boris. We don't know anything about it. But I'll find that out. So, Boris had the ring. And this ring would get him into trouble. And Doria found out about it. She thought that once the ring is gone, Boris would be safe. That's why she got in contact with Shona's boss and had Shona steal it. But somebody must have found out about the plan. Or at least that something was planned. They tortured her to find it out. She didn't cave in though. That's why they killed her when they noticed the ring was missing."

"But that would imply Shona had the ring…"

"I'm sure she did. But hell, she stumbled over a body that was killed because of that ring. I guess she didn't want anybody to know she had it. Not even me, because I could spill it in an interrogation."

"But why kill Shona then?"

"Because they knew I didn't have a clue about the ring, so they thought, if she's dead, she would never tell me. And that as a consequence they had the time to look for it. There can't be many places where she would have hidden it. She needed a secure place for it. She would have only told us if we framed her for real. But since that never happened…"

Nicole nodded. Then she thought about it and nodded again, "So, we only have three questions left: Where is the ring? What is so special about it? And what is Boris' role in it?"

"Exactly…" Nicole put the blanket away and got out of bed. "Wait a second, what are you doing?"

"I'm getting out of bed and helping you finding that ring."

"You're nuts. You almost died yesterday. You're sure not up to this. You were hit."

"Yes, but nowhere important. You said that."

"Nicole…."

"No, Mr Wolfe, don't even start. I know Alexx will bite both our heads off, but I will get out, and if I have to knock you out."

Ryan frowned, "Okay, but don't even try to blame me afterwards…"


	10. Just another way to die

Okay, folks, I'm here again, and here's my new Chapter. Thanks for all your review, I truly appreciate them, even if there are so many more people reading than those that are actually reviewing... Anyways.

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my OCs and their pets, and the bad guys... The title of this chapter is again taken from the Bond Theme for _A quantum of solace_, namely _Another way to die_ by Jack White and Alicia Keys. Don't own the song either... **

* * *

**Chapter 10: Just another way to die....  
**

But Nicole had forgotten Alexx Woods. She was at the entrance of the building, ready to call it a day when they wanted to get out of hospital. She planted herself in front of Nicole, "And where do you think you are going?"

"Visit Frodo…"

"You're going back to your room, young lady!"

Nicole gave her the puppy dog look, "Alexx, I gotta go and find that ring, pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaase!"

Alexx shook her head, "I have two children Nicole, and I know those eyes. You are going back to your room, back to your bed, and I will give you so much Morphine that you will sleep till the end of times if that's necessary, but under no circumstances you will leave this hospital!"

"Alexx, I'm not a kid anymore, I'm almost….. Okay, okay, I go back to bed…" She shook her head, "But let me tell you one thing, if I'm going to have a heart attack in my room because it takes him too long to find that ring, that's your fault."

"I think I'm willing to take that risk… Back to your room. Now!"

Nicole made a grimace and turned to Ryan. "She's worse than… Well, don't matter. You go and find that ring, and don't dare coming home without it…" She walked back to her room.

Alexx grinned, "I can only imagine the poor guy who wants to marry her in a few years… If she makes such a fuzz about a ring in a case, what about her own wedding ring…"

Ryan laughed, "Well, at least it's not my task to bring her her wedding ring…" But he was determined he wouldn't come home without the ring…

------

Hours later, he was out of ideas. He had been through Shona's house, her workplace (she had been working in Miami's biggest jewellery store, so that had taken him like half a day figuring out if the missing ring was anywhere there) and his own flat, thinking she might have left it there. But all his work had been in vain. Now he was sitting in his car, staring into nothing. He was so close. So close. He just needed that ring. But where was that ring?

Suddenly, his cellphone rang. He picked up, "Wolfe?"

"I know it!!!!"

"Nicole? Hasn't Alexx tied you to your bed and gagged you?"

"Yes, but I got out. I know what is so special about that ring!"

"You do? What?"

"It's been stolen a while ago in that armed robbery Calleigh told you about. Where the gun with which they shot at us was used. They robbed a jewellery store. The ring Tripp was describing was one of the stolen bling blings."

"The jewellery store on Flagler? That's where Shona worked!"

"Really? Now everything makes sense. They stole a bunch of high quality jewellery. And Boris must have kept one ring for himself, and Doria found out. The picture of the missing jewellery was all over the press back then. Doria had to recognize it immediately. She called Shona's boss because she knew that once somebody found the ring at their place, they would tie Boris, whom she loved, to the robbery. So the ring had to be gone. But of course, she couldn't know Shona would recognize it too, since she worked there. And she must have recognized Morozov's voice at the robbery. From their earlier encounter. So she could tie the loose ends together. And she was afraid they would come for her, because he must have recognized her too. That's why she didn't tell you about the ring. And Boris found out something was wrong with Doria, and when he noticed the ring wasn't at his usual place, which probably was, as you pointed out, not the guest bedroom, he called his guys and they had a go at Doria, trying to find out what she was planning. She didn't tell them…"

"And so they killed her." Ryan nodded. "But there's one problem."

"What????????" Nicole sounded like she didn't want anybody to ruin that moment.

"I haven't found the ring. And we need it to prove all of this." He held the phone a bit away from his ear because Nicole was screaming at the other end. "No need to make me deaf, though."

"Have you looked everywhere?"

"Well, no, I actually left a few trees out and I have not been digging through cat litter…. Wait…"

"WHAT???!!!????"

"That's it. The cat…."

"What the cat?"

"Shona's cat. Shona knew we didn't have anything to prove she was The Spider besides my testimony that I have recognized her voice. Every judge would have laughed at that. Why was she so eager to get somebody to look after the cat? What cat was it?"

"A British long hair."

"And the ring, what was it like?"

"White gold, one sapphire, two diamonds. Pretty small, delicate…"

"Where did she bring the cat?"

"What's the thing about the cat? She told me she called her sister, Lorna MacAllister. She lives in my house actually, very nice neigh…"

Ryan hung up. He had no time left….

---

He raced to Nicole's house immediately and knocked on Lorna MacAllister's door. She opened. Her eyes were puffy and red, but Ryan noticed immediately the likeness between the sisters. Lorna had the same shade of hair, only that hers was cut short. And she had the same features. A fragile young woman…

Ryan swallowed, "Ms Lorna MacAllister?"

"Yes…"

"My name is Ryan Wolfe, I'm with MDPD…"

"You're here for Lord Byron?"

"Who…"

"The cat? Shona told me on the phone somebody would come and look for it, and that she hoped the police was first… Come on in please…" She opened the door and let him step in. "I'm glad you came. It would have been a shame if my sister died in vain…" A few tears rolled down her cheek. "I always told her she would get into trouble…"

"I'm really sorry for your loss Ms MacAllister… I didn't know your sister well, but from what I know, she was not like the others…"

"She wasn't, no. She was an extraordinary person. The only problem was that she had trouble knocking at her door almost every second… I don't know if you know how it is to love a person who is… well, criminal…. But I can tell you that sometimes, you wonder if they don't go to far…"

Ryan thought about Ron, "I do know, Ms MacAllister. But once I get my hands on the cat, everything will be over…"

"I hope so. Please follow me…" She led him to the living room. And there, in midst of a decent chaos, sat the cat. It was a beautiful animal, with big green eyes and extremely thick and long fur.

Ryan smiled, "A beautiful cat. Will it run away if I approach it?"

"Move slowly and he won't mind."

Ryan walked over to the cat, very slowly, his hand outstretched so the cat could snuffle on his fingertips. It did, and allowed him to caress it. "Hey there, Lord Byron. You're much more beautiful than Kate Moss… But don't tell Nicole." He heard the cat purr and proceeded to caress its neck. And there, he felt it. Attached to the cat's neckband was the ring he had been looking for. He undid the neckband and held the ring in his hand a few seconds later. Lord Byron meowed and left, as if his job was done now and he could call it a day. Ryan grinned, "This is why I am more of a cat person…" He bagged the ring. Suddenly, his cell phone rang. He picked up, "Wolfe?"

"Ryan, it's Nicole…"

"Damn it, Nicole, you're really impatient. But listen, I got the ring. Lord Byron had it…"

"Mad, bad and dangerous to know (*), I can only say. Speaking of dangerous, get out there, immediately. And take the cat and the sister with you."

"What?"

"I was just surprised in my room by a very unwelcomed visitor. With a Russian accent. Apparently Tatiana Morozova planted a bugging device in my room. I found it when I wanted to throw those crappy plastic plants on my window sill away. Guy saw me and got in, probably trying to knock me down before I could do anything. I threw the plants at him. He'll be out for a few minutes. But they know what we're up to, and I'm sure as hell they will be at MacAllister's flat any minute. I called Tripp and his guys, you won't be alone too long, but still…"

At that moment Ryan heard screaming in the staircases. "They're there. I call you back…." He hung up and shoved Lorna MacAllister in the nearest room. "Lock the door and hide behind something . We're getting a visitor."

"Don't you want to give me the ring?"

"No way. If the don't find it on me, they're going to look for you. If they find it on me, at least you are safe…"

"What about you?"

"There's more important things. Go now, they're almost here…" MacAllister nodded and locked the door behind her. Ryan moved away from the room and unholstered his gun. All he needed was a bit of time till Tripp and the others were here… He sat on the table opposite of the door and pointed his gun at the open door.

A second later, somebody appeared, gun in his hand, too, "Mr Wolfe…"

Ryan grinned, "Boris Petrovsky… And you have a new gun, I see… Oh yeah, we got the old one. Was that one bullet meant for your wife, or did you think we would leave it there so you can fire your last shot at me? Sparrow style?"

"Where is the ring?"

"What ring?"

"Don't play games with me, Mr Wolfe…" A few more people appeared behind Petrovsky. Ryan counted about 6. "You'll loose them anyways…"

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that… As far as I have just found out, you have no idea where to look for the ring…" He was nervous, but the grip around his gun was strong as ever. "You might need me…"

"Or we just shoot you and ask the girl…"

"Who says she's still here?"

Boris laughed, "Who said anything about that girl? I meant your little friend at the hospital. You think we would leave her alone? She has seen what we did to Doria. I'm sure she'll be very cooperative to not be treated like this…"

Now it was Ryan's turn to laugh, "You're a funny kid, Boris. Who do you think has called me to tell me you're on your way? You'll need more than one man to catch her. She knocked him down in a couple of seconds…"

Boris just grinned, "Who says there was only one man there? We know she knocked Pavel down, but we have more people there… You wanna call her? Hear her scream, maybe?"

Ryan looked at Boris. He didn't know if the man was telling the truth. But yeah, there was nothing that proved this Pavel guy had been there alone… He swallowed, "She'll be alright. She doesn't need me to watch over her." He just hoped to God it was true…

"Yeah, that's what you think… But right now, she can still survive. Where is the ring?"

"I don't have it."

Boris fired a shot that missed Ryan's feet only per inches, "The next time I won't miss. Where is the ring?"

Ryan tried to calm his beating heart. "I repeat: I don't have it."

Another shot, this time missing Ryan's head only per inches, "I told you to not play games."

"Oh come on, Boris. You're not man enough to shoot me. It took you four goes to finally end Doria's life. You think shooting someone is easier? But well, if not, I still have one shot to go before you finally get over with it…"

Boris shook his head, "I took me one go to finally strangle her. But let me tell you one thing. It's easy enough to shoot you, but not nearly as entertaining. I'd just love to see you with a wire around your neck, slowly going down on your knees, your eyes bulging out of your head, your tongue hanging out of your mouth, you looking at me begging me to stop it with a hoarse voice… But well, you got a gun as well, so I won't do that. I just call my guy at the hospital, telling him to do this to your friend. But don't worry, you'll get the pictures…" He waved at one of his man who immediately spoke into his cell phone. It took Ryan only a few seconds the aim. The shot hit the cell phone, and broke it into pieces. Boris laughed, "A little too late, my friend. You let him talk for too long… But you can still end it. Where is the ring?"

Ryan heard tyres screeching outside. _Please, let it be Tripp… _He reached into his pocket and took the evidence bag with the ring out of it. "Call your friend, and I'll give you the ring…"

"The ring first, Mr Wolfe." Ryan threw the evidence bag over. Petrovsky caught it, ripped it open and checked. "Ah, there it is…" He smiled. "We will call our friend… Oh... I forgot. You broke the only cell phone we have… Well, I guess it will still be possible to stop him… Only we don't know how much your girl will be broken by then… But well, since you won't find it out either… Good bye, Mr Wolfe, it has been a pleasure meeting you." He fired a shot at Ryan, but Ryan ducked away and fired a shot himself. It missed Petrovsky, but hit the guy with the broken cell phone. And then everything went fast. Shouts rang through the staircases, shots echoed, screams of pain. Petrovsky look at Ryan with anger in his eyes and aimed, "You won't survive…."

But Ryan was faster. His bullet hit Petrovsky right in the heart. He was dead within seconds. And so was the rest of his gang. It was over.

Tripp stepped over the bodies in the flat and raced over to Ryan, "You're alright, kid?"

Ryan got on his feet and nodded, "Yes, I am…" His hand reached for his cell phone and he dialled Nicole's number. "She's not picking up…"

"Who?" Tripp asked. Ryan told him the story, while dialling again. "I send some guys over. Don't worry."

Ryan didn't answer but walked to his car while calling her again. And again. And again. But no one answered.

* * *

As you've found out before, I'm not afraid at all to let my OCs die, and I guess, since we already have a bunch of dead people, one more doesn't make a difference now, does it? *evil grin*

(*) "Mad, bad and dangerous to know": Lady Caroline Lamb said this about the actual Lord Byron


	11. An ill divining soul?

Okay, guys, here's the final chapter of this story. It was fun writing it, and I think it's an okay story, even if I don't get a lot of reviews... Anyways, here you go

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**Chapter 11: An ill-divining**** soul?  
**

Ryan raced to the hospital, all the while dialling Nicole's number. But he only got as far as her voicemail. _Hey all, you've reached the mailbox of Nicole Ferguson. I can't answer my phone right now, but you know how these thingies work, so leave your message after the beep. Bye bye…. _"Come on, pick up!" He drove like a maniac. But it didn't matter right now. All he wanted was to see she was safe. He couldn't handle another Delko. If again one of his partners was close to death, he would go nuts. The worry for Delko back then had driven him mad. He had almost beaten up the guy who had shot. And if that happened again, he didn't know how to cope with it. He hated cop killers per se, but when it happened to a cop he knew, it was way worse. When he arrived at the hospital, he jumped out of the car and raced towards Nicole's room. It was empty. Ryan closed his eyes. _This can't be true…._ The room was a mess. He saw blood on the floor and the remains of the indoor plants Nicole had used to knock the guy over. The bed sheets were troubled. But no signs of Nicole. He had come too late. And where was the patrol supposed to guard her? Why were patrols these day such idiots? Who knew how they had gotten that guy away from the room? He leaned against the door, unable to move. Delko had gotten out of it. Nicole not?

But suddenly he felt a harsh blow against his shoulder. "ARE YOU MENTAL????????????? I TRIED TO CALL YOU THE WHOLE TIME, DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS????????? YOUR PHONE WAS BUSY ALL THE TIME, I THOUGHT GOD KNEW WHAT HAD HAPPENED!!!!!!! I WAS SCARED SILLY!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND HERE YOU'RE STANDING LIKE NOTHING'S WRONG????????"

Ryan turned around, holding his shoulder, "Nicole?" Yes, there she was. Unharmed. After the first shock was gone now, he answered, "Am I mental??? What about you? My phone was busy because I tried to call you the whole time, but your phone was switched off! You must have like 1000 unanswered calls on it by now!"

Nicole looked at him, "Why did you try to call me that much?"

Ryan took a deep breath, "Petrovsky… He told me he had more guys here than just the one you knocked out…. And that they… you know… if I didn't give them the ring…"

Nicole's face turned a dangerous shade of red, "You didn't give them the ring, did you?"

"Yes, but I heard Tripp approaching…"

"ARE YOU MENTAL?????? Now the Russkies know that they can do this to you. That you will risk a case if one of your guys is in danger!"

"I'm sorry, okay? But I heard Tripp coming, I knew they wouldn't get out. And they didn't. I shot Petrovsky. And his guys are dead too. No harm done…"

Nicole looked at him with madness in her eyes for a few more seconds, then she started laughing, "You are so cute! A bunch of dead Russians, and you go, 'No harm done'. Oh Ryan, you're really one of a kind…" Then she smiled at him, "Thank you. Even if I wasn't in danger… That was really a lovely thing to do…"

"You would have done the same for me now, wouldn't you?" He grinned.

"Surely not, but if you believe it…" She blinked. "I could use a coffee… How about you?"

"Anytime…"

-----

It was late evening when Ryan got back to HQ. He checked on Tripp and Natalia. Everything was fine. They had proven that The Spider had not killed anybody. It would be of no use to Shona anymore, but they could clear her name. Tripp had talked to the press so that they would not release her true name. No one would ever know the truth. Ryan was a bit sad about it, because after all, it had been due to Shona that they finally had found out everything. She had been a very special woman, even if he had only spoken a few words to her. Her aura had been special… Ryan was deeply in his thoughts so he didn't notice Michael Travers on the parking lot and bumped into him:

"Oh, sorry, Michael…" He walked on, but was called back.

"Ryan?"

He turned around, "Yes?"

Travers had already turned a light shade of red, "How is Ms Ferguson?"

"She's alright… Nothing wrong with her. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I heard Detective Tripp was worried there might be some of the bad guys…. And I thought… and then I asked…" He had started to stutter a bit, and had blushed more.

Ryan grinned, "She's alright. They were just bluffing. She was never in acute danger. Besides from that incident with the shooting…"

"Oh… okay… That's good…" Travers nodded a few times as if he was trying to convince himself that it was indeed a good thing.

"It is, yes… Anything more?"

Travers swallowed, "Do you know when she'll… you know, be released from hospital?"

"As soon as Alexx takes the handcuffs off, I guess… Why do you ask?"

Travers had now turned a dangerous shade of dark red, "Well, I just thought… I mean… I… could…. invite her… for dinner or something?" He looked at Ryan as if he was the one who could answer that.

Ryan smiled, "Well…. If I were you, I'd just go and see her. Maybe now. I'm sure she'd love some gossip."

"Isn't it a bit late to disturb her?"

"I called her in the middle of the night last week. Believe me, she doesn't mind…."

Travers nodded, "Okay... I might go… I might go…" He walked to his car without any good bye.

Ryan watched him leaving and grinned; he himself wasn't the coolest when hitting on a girl, but damn, Michael Travers beat him big time….

---

A week later, Nicole was finally released from hospital. It was right on time for Shona's funeral. Ryan and Nicole, both dressed in dark colours, stood a bit away. The ceremony was short, but very touching.

After the funeral, Lorna MacAllister came to them. Her eyes were still red and puffy, but she managed a brief smile, "Officer Wolfe. I'm glad you're here. I noticed I didn't even thank you for what you did…"

Ryan blushed a bit, "That's my job, Ms MacAllister. I'm glad nothing happened to you… Oh, may I introduce you to Officer Nicole Ferguson?" He pointed at Nicole next to him.

Lorna shook Nicole's hand, "So, you're the young lady who was after my sister?"

"Yes, that would have been me. I'm really sorry for your loss, Ms MacAllister. I only got to know your sister for a few minutes, but she was a lovely woman to talk to."

"I know, I know. I'm also glad nothing happened to you. I heard what those men were planning to do to you. It scared me a lot…" She smiled, "But it seems Officer Wolfe was scared too. The way he ran out of my apartment to find you…"

Ryan blushed while Nicole grinned, "Believe me, Ms MacAllister, I would have been scared too if I was in his place and someone pictured to me what they would be doing to him if I didn't cooperate…"

"I can imagine. I have something for you, Ms Ferguson…" She knelt down next to the basket she had been carrying and lifted the blanket that was covering its contents. Lord Byron was lying in it.

Nicole immediately knelt down too and started caressing the cat, "Oh, you must be Lord Byron, the hero of the day! Thank you very much for taking such good care of our key piece of evidence. Damn, you are a real beauty…." The cat lifted his head a bit and purred.

Lorna smiled a bit, "Would you like to take care of him?"

"Pardon me?"

Lorna sighed, "I'm not really a cat person. Shona always told me he needed a lot of love, but I'm not very fond of cats, and I can see you love them. I'm sure Shona would be delighted to know that somebody who loves cats will take care of her baby…"

Nicole looked at Lorna, "I cannot possibly accept…"

"Yes, you can. And please do…"

Nicole caressed the cat, and nodded, "Okay. If he and my dog get on well, I'd love to keep him…"

Lorna got up again, "Thank you very much, Ms Ferguson. I have to look after the other guests now. My parents are devastated. I'm glad that it won't appear in the press that Shona was The Spider. You both take care." She walked back to the others.

Ryan sighed, "It's hard for the family…"

"Oh, I hope Frankie and you get along, it would break my heart to send you away, sweetie…." Nicole had the cat on her arm by now and was cuddling it.

Ryan grinned, "Okay, I can see I lost you for today. What do you say, we bring Lord Byron home, and then we go and have dinner together? It must have been a long time since you got something tasty to eat. I know about hospital food…"

"That's really nice, and you're really right, but I already have plans. I'm going out with Michael…"

"Oh…" Ryan nodded, "So, how long did it take him to ask you out?"

"The whole week…" Nicole grinned, "But I love shy men. They don't talk as much crap as others…" She put the cat back into the basket and carried it to the car. "But at least this case is over. And we nearly found out everything."

"Didn't we find out everything?"

Nicole shook her head, "For once, we still don't know how Boris got the scratches on his buttocks."

"I've been thinking about that too. And you know what? I think Valera has cracked that one long before we knew Boris was a bad guy. She told me it looked like a BJ had gone bad… I can imagine that he was…"

"Yeah, okay, I can imagine this too, no need for details. Gosh, men that use BJ as a torture method…. Poor woman…"

"So, you're satisfied now. Everything okay?"

Nicole frowned, "What about Doria? You told me Boris told you that he only needed one go to strangle her. What about the other marks?"

Ryan opened his mouth, but then shrugged, "No idea. You're right, we never found that out. And no one left to ask…"

"Ah well, I'm sure we'll meet Ivan Sarnoff before long, so maybe you can ask him. I don't think every Russian has a different way of torture…"

"No, probably not." Ryan opened the car door for Nicole. "Take care that the cat doesn't jump out of its basket and on the steering wheel. It could be dangerous."

"So mad, so bad and so deliciously dangerous to know…" (*)

----

When Ryan got home this night, he sighed. It was weird to know that this case was over. That he could no longer expect those night visits from The Spider. Her life had been too short. He thought about the last case, the one where his uncle had been abducted. It could have also gone wrong for him. He made it, Shona had died. It was a crying shame she had. For once, a criminal that had never hurt anybody… He sat down on his couch, thinking. Sometimes, life was really unfair. Shona had died. And Doria Petrovskaya. She had only tried to protect her husband, but she had paid with her life. He frowned; the fact that they didn't find out about the three other marks bothered him. Not because it had been relevant to the case. But because it only told more of the story of that terrible torture the poor woman had gone through. He shrugged; no need to think about this, really. If God wanted him to find out, it would happen. He hoped it would never....

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**Okay, that's the end of "Now you see, now you don't". Orla_Dark, see, there was no need to be scared. I just couldn't kill her off ;)**

**There is already plans for the next story. To those of you that have read "Watch out for the Wolfes", I'm planning to do WISC, after the old method. I don't know if anyone wants to read it, but if I have a lot of reviews that say "DO!!!!", I will do... If not... well, I don't know....  
**

**I wanna thank each and everyone for your reviews. They have made me happy. You're a lot of great readers and reviewers, and I hope this last chapter made all of you happy. Peace and love, yours fergie**

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(*) Liz Lochhead wrote this in her poem _Hell for poets_, quoting Lady Caroline Lamb's original comment about Lord Byron (see Chapter 10)


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